Brad Paisley, Kane Brown Team Up for ‘Heaven South’ at 2017 CMA Awards

Country up-and-comer Kane Brown joined country superstar Brad Paisley onstage at the 2017 CMA Awards for a live performance of Paisley's song "Heaven South." The collaboration took place during the annual awards show, which aired live from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (Nov. 8).

Paisley started the song, which is his newest single from Love and War, released earlier this year. This was Brown's first-ever CMA performance--and who better to take the stage with than Grammy-winning, CMA-awarded Paisley? They gave a solid performance; Brown had the crowd waving their arms to the rhythm and made sure to interact with the crowd in the front row. Paisley, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the word "UNITY," showed everyone at home and in the arena his proficiency on the guitar.

Brown admitted that he was nervous about collaborating with the superstar. But, Paisley quickly made that feeling diminish. "He's a great guy, he really knows how to bring your nerves down and talk to you and just make you feel comfortable," he said.

“It’s neat to be on somebody’s first CMA performance with them,” Paisley told The Tennessean, adding Brown is “exactly what we need in our format.”

“I’m going to go out and I’m going to push the bike, and he’s not going to realize the training wheels aren’t on it, and he’s just going to start pedaling.”

Neither Paisley nor Brown received a CMA Awards nomination this year, although it's Paisley's 10th consecutive year co-hosting Country Music's Biggest Night with Carrie Underwood. Brown's self-titled debut album became the most successful first project from a country artist in two years and earned him a New Male Vocalist of the Year nomination at the 2017 ACM Awards.